Computer modeling: fire, climate, and the boreal forest

摘要

Humans constantly use models to better understand the world. We use many types of models such as words, pictures, three-dimensional objects, and computers to represent reality. To build a house, you may start with a drawing. If you create a three-dimensional model, you can get even more information about how well the design will work as an actual structure, and you could study the design without actually constructing the building. If you want to see how climate warming might affect the tundra a century from now, or how you might mitigate fire risk in a wooded urban setting, computer modeling offers a way to simulate various scenarios and outcomes from the variables involved in these questions. It also allows researchers to investigate how various phenomena are connected. They can manipulate one variable, then look at the effect on the total picture.